“The announcement that Boris Johnson’s wife gave birth to a baby girl offers the embattled U.K. prime minister some relief from the barrage of negative coverage he’s endured,” Bloomberg reports.
“The prime minister is believed to have fathered seven children, though the exact number is a matter of speculation.”
A new NPR/Marist poll finds President Biden’s approval rating at just 42%, tied with the lowest since Biden took office.
“What’s more, the intensity of disapproval is high — 38% said they strongly disapprove of Biden. That’s close to the territory that President Donald Trump resided in during his term.”
“While the numbers are a sign of a deeply polarized society, there’s also evidence of lackluster feelings for the president among even people in his own party. For example, in the survey, while 76% of Republicans strongly disapproved of the job Biden is doing, only 38% of Democrats strongly approved.”
“Kash Patel, a former chief of staff to then-acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, is meeting with the House committee investigating January 6,” CNN reports.
“The Senate on Thursday cleared away the last major hurdle to raising the debt ceiling, effectively ending a Republican blockade and all but guaranteeing that Congress will be able to move quickly in the coming days to steer the government away from a first-ever federal default,” the New York Times reports.
“In a vote of 64-36, 14 Republicans joined every Democrat to take up legislation that would smooth and speed the way for Congress to increase the statutory borrowing limit by a set amount, still to be determined.”
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) announced that he tested positive for Covid-19 and has “mild symptoms,” just hours after he spent a considerable amount of time on the House floor managing debate for Republicans on several noncontroversial health-related bills, The Hill reports.
Guthrie was already vaccinated.
“Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, announced on Thursday that she was dropping out of the governor’s race and running instead for re-election,” the New York Times reports.
“Her decision upends the high-profile race for governor and further solidifies Gov. Kathy Hochul’s standing as the early front-runner.”
Another Republican voter from the Villages retirement community in Florida has been charged with casting more than one ballot in an election, according to Villages News.
“Americans’ overall income has accelerated since the pandemic, but so has inflation — and a new poll finds that far more people are noticing the higher prices than the pay gains,” the AP reports.
“Two-thirds say their household costs have risen since the pandemic, compared with only about a quarter who say their incomes have increased.”
Reuters: “The panel in Spalding, a rural patch south of Atlanta, is one of six county boards that Republicans have quietly reorganized in recent months through similar county-specific state legislation. The changes expanded the party’s power over choosing members of local election boards ahead of the crucial midterm Congressional elections in November 2022.”
“The unusual rash of restructurings follows the state’s passage of Senate Bill 202, which restricted ballot access statewide and allowed the Republican-controlled State Election Board to assume control of county boards it deems underperforming.”
“By an overwhelming margin, the House passed a bill to spend $778 billion on defense next year, $25 billion more than what President Joe Biden had requested. The Senate is expected to second the motion within days,” Slate reports.
“The sum—a five percent increase over last year’s defense bill—amounts to the nation’s largest military-spending bill since World War II, even adjusting for inflation.”
“Yet no officials or lawmakers have spelled out why the budget—which includes $740 billion for the Pentagon and $28 billion for the Energy Department’s nuclear-weapons programs—needs to be quite this huge.”
“The German-born father of Chilean presidential frontrunner José Antonio Kast was a member of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party, revelations that appear at odds with the far-right candidate’s own statements about his father’s military service during World War II,” the AP reports.
“The ID card’s emergence adds a new twist to a highly charged presidential runoff billed on both side as a battle of extremes — between communism and right-wing authoritarianism — and marked by a steady flow of disinformation that has distorted the record and campaign pledges of Kast’s opponent.”
“The Senate will vote Thursday to take up a one-time loophole to allow Democrats to raise the debt limit on their own, a major step toward warding off mid-December economic fallout,” Politico reports.
“The chamber will consider the initial 60-vote hurdle midday. At least 10 Republican senators are expected to vote in support, setting in motion the deal Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell struck with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to prevent the United States from defaulting on its more than $29 trillion in debt as soon as next week.”
“State lawmakers preparing to convene legislative sessions in the new year are confronted with a scenario unlike any they, or most of their predecessors, have ever experienced: budgets that are flush with cash after a year of record-setting surpluses,” The Hill reports.
“The influx of new money, fueled by a quick economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and billions in emergency federal funding for state and local governments, has spurred new talk of significant tax cuts. Across both blue states and red states, and just in time for midterm elections, legislators and governors are making plans to lower rates and cut bills.”
Wall Street Journal: “Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to 184,000 in the week ended Dec. 4, the lowest level since September 1969… That was close to a recent record total of 194,000 recorded in late November.”
“Political advertisers on Facebook are supposed to identify themselves as such. That way, Facebook can log their ads in an archive and, as was the company’s policy in 2020, even prevent those ads from running close to an election,” Protocol reports.
“Of course, both accidentally and intentionally, not every political advertiser plays by Facebook’s rules, meaning Facebook often has to decide what is and isn’t a political ad even after the ad runs.”
A new study of 189,000 political ads from 2020 found that Facebook misidentified a whopping 83% of those ads.
“New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking a deposition from former president Donald Trump early next year as part of her investigation into potential fraud inside the Trump Organization,” the Washington Post reports.
“James has requested to take his testimony on Jan. 7 at her New York office as part of a civil investigation into whether Trump’s company committed financial fraud in the valuations of properties to different entities.”
“One of the people familiar with the investigation said James is examining whether widespread fraud ‘permeated the Trump Organization.'”
New York Times: “Civil inquiries cannot lead to criminal charges. If Ms. James finds evidence of wrongdoing, she could file a lawsuit against Mr. Trump.”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) recommended mouthwash as a treatment for the coronavirus during a town hall meeting Wednesday, the Washington Post reports.
Said Johnson: “Standard gargle, mouthwash, has been proven to kill the coronavirus. If you get it, you may reduce viral replication. Why not try all these things?”
Johnson later shared on Twitter a study on a public website that says backs up his point.
“New Zealand will ban the sale of tobacco to its next generation, in a bid to eventually phase out smoking,” the BBC reports.
“Anyone born after 2008 will not be able to buy cigarettes or tobacco products in their lifetime, under a law expected to be enacted next year.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.